Artwork of the Solar System, showing the paths of the eight major planets as they orbit the Sun, as well as Pluto and Eris, which are dwarf planets. The four inner planets are, from inner to outer, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. The four outer plane...

Planet Earth but not as we know it. The tectonic plates have arranged themselves to create a single land-mass, a supercontinent called Rodinia (from the Russian for 'Motherland'. It is one of many that Earth has seen in its history. It was fully form...

The Earth-Moon system, seen from a vantage point beyond the Moon. This side of the Moon is never seen from the Earth, because of synchronous rotation. This means that the Moon rotates on its axis once a month, exactly the same as its period of revolu...

This is an illustration of a space elevator - a type of transportation system designed to move payloads from the Earth's surface into orbit. The idea was proposed in 1885 by Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. A cable extends from a base statio...

Conceptual illustration symbolizing the exploration of the Red Planet, Mars....

Conceptual illustration symbolizing the exploration of the Red Planet, Mars....

Rings of Uranus. Artwork of particles making up one of the rings of Uranus. The rings of Uranus are very dark and not visible from Earth. There are eleven small rings in total, and they are only a few kilometres wide, and no more that a couple of hun...